it is good to be a bit uncomfortable

my husband is going through this book with the leadership team at church. because i am not able to go to the meetings, i have been trying to read it along with the group.. i have been trying to tackle a couple of chapters a week and finally finished. the purpose is to present our leadership with a vision to be a neighborhood church that actually reflects the neighborhood we live in.....which is a multi-ethnic neighborhood.

it is an excellent read. deymaz is bold. using the church in acts as his example, he would argue that there is a biblical mandate to be multi-ethnic and that we as an american church culture have gotten too comfortable being homogeneous.... that we have allowed the church to be the last place where segregation is acceptable and tolerated. we like to worship with people that worship like us. he argues that the primary purpose of building such churches isn’t racial reconciliation, but rather the reconciliation of men and women with God. he challenges the idea that the local church has become more consumed with preserving the life inside our walls then helping others get inside the walls. at the end of each chapter, he includes testimonies of individuals from his church. it is amazing to see the diversity of his community, the places they come from, and their stories of faith. wow! good stuff.... here are a few quotes:

But make no mistake—it is my sincere hope and belief that the emerging movement to establish multi-ethnic churches throughout the United States and beyond will have the effect of dismantling institutional racism within the local church through the application of long-forsaken New Testament teaching concerning its very nature and calling (p. xxvii).

It is to be an authentic, visible community of faith where people of diverse backgrounds worship together as one, and love one another in Christ (29)

Through the biblical transformation of our minds and wills, we will be able to emotionally engage the concept of a multi-ethnic and economically diverse local church. Indeed, we will not only come to understand the passion of Christ for local church unity, as I have described throughout this book, but we will desire to pursue it for the sake of the gospel. Yes it is Christ’s will that we become one with believers different from ourselves so that the world would know God’s love and believe. As a by-product, society will be affected, a “racial-reconciliation” will occur, and the church will be restored to a place of prominence in the minds and hearts of those outside its walls. (pp. 183-184).